Technical assessment: 3
Moral assessment: 3
CINEMA ating: PG 13 with parental
guidance
Formerly bad
villain Gru (Steve Carrell) has mellowed towards complete reformation as he tries
to live a rather normal life, taking care of his adopted daughters and
transforming his previously evil lab to start a jam and jelly business. But he
just can’t resist going back to the scene when the Anti-Villain League, an
organization dedicated to tracking villainous plots, recruits him to help them
find and identify a new mysterious villain who has just stolen an entire
Antarctic lab, and is now in possession of a very powerful yet dangerous toxic
compound. Gru is paired up with agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig), and together,
they go undercover in a shopping mall, hoping to track down the supervillain
who poses as a mall tenant.
Despicable
Me 2
doesn’t quite live up to the legacy and sentiment of the original installment. What was a previously fresh premise of “villainy as a norm”
has turned into a quite predictable and uninspired franchise. The
narrative and the characters do not go beyond being merely functional as the
film tries hard to lead its story towards the obligatory happy ending. The film
does not tackle the central conflict of a villain struggling to reform in a
society that fights evil with evil. The film entirely lacks the surprise
element particularly, the revelation of the mysterious villain. However, Despicable Me 2 still delivers a few laughs and thrills, thanks to the diminutive
yellow minions who provide much of the humor in the film. Their presence makes
the film an enjoyable treat. The voice acting remain strong amidst the weak
material and the animation is still flawless.
Although an
animated feature, Despicable Me 2
predominantly tackles an adult theme of villainy, espionage, and romantic
relationships. Given these, scenes of violence cannot be avoided no matter how
sanitized and funny the set-ups are. Those scenes result in slapsticks and
crude humor. The minions and poop jokes are able to elicit laughter from the
young audience, and much of it is rather neutral and harmless. Looking at
the larger context, Gru’s character transformation from a seemingly bad villain
to a good spy is commendable. This is further reinforced when he takes the role
of a father to three girls. He becomes overly protective when one of his
daughters starts to fall in love with someone whom he finds totally
incompatible. Towards the end of the feature, the good still triumphs over evil
and family and love relationships remain to be a powerful force even in a world
dominated by villains. But then again, given the theme and adult humor, CINEMA
deems Despicable Me 2 as fit for
audiences 13 years old and below, with parental guidance.
